On the Cultivation of the Vine, 
various qualities of the grapes. In the south, where the 
wine is naturally generous, the stalks would only add a 
disagreeable harshness to a liquor already too strong by its 
nature. All the grapes, therefore, destined to form wines 
for the table, are freed from the stalks, while those des- 
tined for distillation are fermented with them. But what 
may appear astonishing is, that in different parts of the 
same canton in France, we see some agriculturists free 
their grapes from the stalks, and extol their method, 
while others in the neighbourhood, equally skilful, re- 
ject this practice, and endeavour to support their method 
by the result of their experience. The one makes wines 
more delicate, the other wines of a stronger quality ; both 
find partisans of the liquor which they prepare : but this 
is a matter of taste, which does not contradict the princi- 
ples we have here laid down. 
In general, a fork with three prongs, which the work- 
man turns and agitates in a circular manner in the vat 
where the grapes are contained, is employed for freeing 
them from the stalks. By this rapid motion the stalks are 
detached from the grapes, and, being drawn up to the 
surface, are removed with the hand. 
They may be freed from the stalks also by means of a 
common sieve formed of osier twigs, distant from each 
other about half an inch, and having above it a close 
osier pad or presser, about four inches thick. 
But whether the grapes be freed from the stalks or not, 
it is indispensably necessary to tread them, in order to 
facilitate the fermentation, and this process is performed 
as the grapes are collected and brought home from the 
vineyards. The operation is nearly the same in all the 
wine countries, and is performed, for the most part, in a 
square box, open at the top, and about a yard and a half 
in breadth. The sides consist of wooden bars, with inter- 
vals of such a size that the grapes may not pass through 
